Emergency box



Dec. 29, 1931. A. PRUCHA ET AL 1,839,051

EMERGENCY BOX Filed April '7 1951 /N VE N TORS #LO/S PRKHH 6! JOSEPH HQUCHH 7 PER HTTORNEYS Patented Dec. ,29, 1931 ALOIS PRUoHA' ANnJosEPH PRUGHA, F CEDAR ArIDs, 'IowA EMERGENCY Box i ,Applieation filed April 7, 1931. Seria1 N0.528,279} i 1 This invention relates to emergency boxes and its general obj ectis to; provide a cabinet primarily designed for use in housing bond severing or cutting means in the; form of knives that are moved to operative position when the door of the cabinet is opened, with the result a person who has had his or her feet and hands tied by burglars or bandits can work his or her'way to the cabinet and by slight pressure upon a part of the latter, the door thereof will be opened thus disposing thebond severing means in a position whereby the person can out the bonds with reasonable effort and be free.

A furtherobjectof jtheinvention' to provide an emergency box that includes illuminating means operable uponopening of the door'thereof, and the box is also adapted to house weapons, such as fire arms,"as wella's aknife' I Another'object'of the invention is to provide a device of the "character set: forth that v is simple in construction, 1 inexpensive to manufacture,and extremely eflicient in op- 'eration and service V I This invention also consist sinfcertain other features of construction and inthe combina tion and arrangementfof the several 'parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated '30 in the accompanying drawings andspecifically pointed out in theappended'clanns In describing our invention in detail,'ref erence will be'had to the accompan'ying'dr'aw} ings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts" throughout the several views, and in which: r Y a Figure 1 is a" perspective View of the device which forms the subject matter of the present invention and illustrates the parts thereof in operative position. a t Figure 2'is a fragmentary front yiewthereof with parts innormal position.

" Figure3 is a diagrammatic view of the circuit employed for the illuminating means. Referring .to the drawings, in detail, the reference numeral l 'indicates a cabinet which as shown is elongated in' formation and is relatively narrow whereby it can be conveniently placed outof view of a casual observer. The cabinet'is' provided'with a V will be apparent.

door 2' which is hingedly secured to one of the sides thereof as shown in Figure 1, through the instrumentality of hinges 3.

' Arranged above the lower end of the cabii net is a movable bottom 4; that has one of its ends hingedly secured tothe side by a suitable hinge 5, while the opposite end of the bottom is free but normally rests upon a stop 6 the' latter beingreceived in arecess extending the width of the bottom. s Arranged in the cabinet and secured to the inner side of the rear wall thereof are angle brackets 7 disposed in superposed re lationiwith respect to each otherand which 7 have pivotally secured thereto the shanks of '65 knife blades 8 through the medium of pivot pins 9. The knife blades are adapted for inovementin unison and the shanks have secured thereto byv pivot pins 10,

pivotally a link 11. Extending laterally fromithe 'link 11 isa 'stud 12 which receives one of the ends of a' coil spring 13, while its'opposite end is secured to an eye screw 14, with the resultthe knifeblades are under tension as H i Secured to the rear wall of the cabinet is a block 15 that has pivotally mounted therethrough. the bight portion'of a" substantially U-shapel latch rod 16 which has right angle bent ends and one of these right angle bent ends is normally disposed in a recess formed in the link 11 for the purpose'ofholding the knife blades in an inoperative position as shown in Figure 2. j

There is provided an illuminating means that is controlled through the instrumentalityo'f a switchl'T, the latter being supported upon a block 18 and includesa switch blade 19 having one of its ends pivotally securechavhile its opposite endis movable for disposal between spaced "contacts as shown. The Switchblade 19 is operated through the instrumentality of ,a link 20 which has one of its ends pivotally secured v to the switch blade while its'opp'osite end'is.

pivotally secured to the link Mounted for slidable movement through guides 21 is a lever 22 having arranged in its lower end an opening to accommodate a pin 23 that is formed with a suitablebracket secured to the bottom 4 so that upon movement of the bottom will likewise move the lever 22 for a purpose which will be presently apparent.

The block 15 not only acts in the capacity of pivotally receiving the latch rod 16, but also supports batteries 24, for the illuminating means and cooperating with the block 15 is a clamping band 25. The batteries have secured to the terminals thereof conductors and as shown in the diagrammatic view, namely Figure 3, it will be noted that one of these conductors which is indicated by the reference numeral 24: is suitably connected to a lamp socket and thence extends to the batteries which are of course electrically connected with each other and extending from the batteries is a conductor 25 having electrical connection with the spaced contact members of the switch 17 while a conductor 26 is likewise connected with a lamp socket and extends to the bracket which pivotally receives the switch blade 19.

Supported in any appropriate manner above the bottom is a shelf'26 and this shelf is recessed to accommodate the stock of a gunor rifle 27, while the barrel of the rifle isfreceived by spring clamps 28, the latter being arranged at the top of the cabinet as shown in Figure 2. If desired, a pistol or revolver 29 may be arranged in the cabinet and is supported by any appropriate means such as a pin 30. A knife 31 can also be arranged in the cabinet and we have shown the same suspended by a pin 32.

Secured to and depending from the top of the cabinet is a block within which is arranged the socket of an electric light bulb 33 which provides the means for illuminating the cabinet and the bulb is illuminated when the door 2 is disposed in an open position, due to the fact that the switch blade 19 is closed when the door is opened.

From the above description and disclosure of the drawings, it will be obvious that we have provided what we term an emerency box or cabinet, that is extremely useful in theevent a robbery has taken place and the victims feet have been tied. The victim can work his way to the cabinet and in the form as shown pressure upon the bottom 4 in the direction of the arrow will raise the lever22 for disposing the hook thereof out of the slot of the catch 34, the latter being secured to the door 2 and the hook which is indicated by the reference numeral 35 is normally received in the slot for holding the door in closed position. The upward movement of the lever 22 will likewise swing the latch rod 16 on its pivot due to the fact that the upper end of the lever 22 is rounded and acts in the capacity as a cam, and such movement of the latch rod 16 will cause the latter to be released from the recess of the link 11,with the result the spring 13 will pull upon the link 11 and move the knife blades to their horizontal position as shown in Figure 1. It will be noted that the knife blades have their outer ends curved upwardly, therefore when the knife blades are moved downwardly to their operative position, they will engage the door and throw the same to a completely open position as shown in Figure 1.

When the knife blades have been arranged to their operative position, it will be apparent that the victim can then readily cut the bonds and be free for sounding an alarm, or to use the fire arms if such is desired, or to use the knife to release other victims.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of our invention will be readily apparent.

lVe desire itto be understood that we may make changes in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A device of the character described com-- prising acabinet, a hinge door for said cabi net, latching means for said door, superimposed brackets arranged in said cabinet, knife blades pivotally secured to said brackets, means pivotally secured to said knife blades to move the latter in unison, latching means for said knife blades to hold the latter in an inoperative position, means for urging the knife blades to o erative position, a hingedly secured bottom or said cabinet, means operated by said bottom upon manually moving the latter to release both the latching means wherebythe door is opened simultaneously with the'movement of the knife blades to operative position.

' 2. A device of the character described comprising a cabinet, a hinged door therefor, latching means for said door, brackets arranged in said cabinet and superimposed With respect to each other, knife blades hingedly secured to said brackets, latching means therefor, means for urging the knife blades to operative position, a link pivotally secured to the knife blades for moving the latter in unison, a bottom for said cabinet and having one of its ends pivotally secured while its opposite end is free, means having connection with the free end of the bottom and the link respectively for releasing both latching means whereby the door is opened simultaneously with the movement of the knife blades to "operative position.

3. A device of the character described comprising a cabinet, a hinged door therefor, latching means for said door, superimposed brackets disposed in said cabinet, knife blades pivotally secured to said brackets, a link pivotally secured to the knife blades for moving the latter in unison, a bottom for said cabinet and having one end pivotally secured While its opposite end is free, a lever mounted for slidable movement in said oabi net and having a cammed upper end, means for connecting the lever tothe free end of the bottom for moving the leverupon movement of the bottom, pivoted means operable by the cammed end of the lever, spring means for urging the knife bladesto an operative position, said pivoted means having connection with the link for holding the knives in an inoperative position and being disconnected therefrom upon upward movement of the bottom, and said lever forming a part of the latching means for releasing the latter to open the door simultaneously with the movement of the knife blades tovtheir operative position. v

4. In a device of the character described comprising a cabinet adapted to receive weapons, a hinged door therefor, latching means for said door, brackets arranged in said cabinet, knife blades pivotally secured to said brackets and movable in unison with each other, spring means for normally urging the knife blades to an operative position, a movable bottom for said cabinet, a lever mounted for slidable movement in said cabinet and having connection with said bottom to be moved upon movement of the latter, cam means formed with said lever, a hook formed with said lever and providing a part of the latching means, a catch secured to the door and being received by said hook, a substantially U-shaped rod pivotally mounted and havlng a right angle bent end engageable with the cam means for swinging the substantially U-shaped rod on its pivot, said f substantially U-shaped ,rod being adapted to hold the knife blades in an inoperative position, and said door being opened simultaneouslywith the movement of the knife blades to operative position upon upward movement of said bottom. V

5. A device of the character described comprising a cabinet adapted to receive weapons, a hinged door therefor, latching means for said door, knife blades mounted for pivotal movement in said cabinet, a link pivotally secured to said knife blades for moving the latter in unison, a coil spring for normally urging the knife blades to operative position, a bottom for said cabinet and having one end pivotally secured while its opposite end is free, a lever mounted for slid-' In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

ALOIS PRUGHA.

JOSEPH PRUCHA.

able movement in said cabinet, a pin having connection with the free end and received by the lever for moving the latter upon movement of said bottom, a substantially U-shaped rod pivotally mounted in said cabinet and having connection with said lever whereby the latter moves the U-shaped rod on its pivot, said rod having connection with the knife blades for releasing the latter for moving the same to operative position, and said lever having formed therewith a part of the latching means whereby upon ofsaid bottom I 

